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Hillman 14 1929

Hillman Minx De Luxe 4-Door Saloon 1936

Hillman Minx Mark VIII Drophead 1955

1961 Hillman Minx

Hillman is a British automobile marque created by the Hillman Motor Car Company, founded in 1907. The company was based in Ryton-on-Dunsmore, near Coventry, England. Before 1907 the company had built bicycles. Although the Hillman company was acquired by Humber in 1929, Hillman was used as the primary marque of the Rootes Group from 1931, following its acquisition of Humber, until 1967, when Chrysler in turn took over Rootes. The marque continued to be used under Chrysler until 1976.

History[link]

Origins[link]

The original company, named Hillman-Coatalen, was founded by William Hillman with the Breton Louis Coatalen as designer and chief engineer. Coatalen left in 1909 to join Sunbeam and the company was re-registered as the Hillman Motor Car Company in 1910.

The first cars were large, featuring a 9.76-litre 6-cylinder engine or a 6.4-litre four. A smaller car, the 9 hp of 1913 with a 1357 cc side-valve four-cylinder, was the first to sell in significant numbers and was re-introduced after the First World War as the 11 hp, having grown to 1600 cc. The big seller was the 14 hp introduced in 1925, and the only model made until 1928. Following the fashion of the time a Straight Eight of 2.6 litres and Hillman's first use of overhead valves came in 1928 but soon gained a reputation for big end problems.

Rootes era[link]

In 1928 Hillman was taken over by Humber and both were taken over by Rootes in 1931. Hillman went on to become the dominant brand within the Rootes empire, alongside Humber, Sunbeam and Singer.

The 1930s saw a return to side valves with a 6-cylinder Wizard first produced in April 1931 and in 1932 the first car to carry the Minx name. This had a 1185 cc four-cylinder and went through a series of updates in body style and construction until the end of the Second World War. In 1934 the Wizard was replaced by the 20/70, which lasted until 1936 when the Hawk with a 2576 cc (later 3181 cc) side-valve straight six was introduced. This car was later rebodied and sold as a Humber.

After the war the Minx was reintroduced with the same 1185 cc engine. It went through a series of models given Phase numbers and the Phase VIII of 1955 saw the arrival of an overhead-valve engine 1390cc, the Mk 8. The later 1956 Two Tone version of this model was called the "Gay Look" or Mk 8A model, showing how the meaning of words can change, and led to the advertising slogan "As Gay as a Mardi Gras". A smaller car, the Husky with van like body and using the old side-valve engine, was also new for 1954. The floor pan of this model was later to form the basis for the Sunbeam Alpine, Sunbeam also being part of the Rootes empire. A complete departure in 1963 was the Hillman Imp using a Coventry Climax all alloy, 875 cc rear engine and built in a brand new factory in Linwood, Scotland. The location was chosen under government influence to bring employment to a depressed area. A fastback version, the Californian, and an estate re-using the Husky name were also made. A new car called the Hunter was introduced in 1966 with, in 1967, a smaller-engined standard version using the old Minx name. These are frequently given their factory code of "Arrow", but this name was never officially used in marketing.

Chrysler[link]

Chrysler had assumed complete control of Rootes by 1967, and the first new Hillman model whose development was financed by the American giant was the Avenger of 1970.

1972 Hillman Avenger Saloon

Peugeot[link]

The Avenger and Hunter ranges were rebadged as Chryslers until 1979 when Chrysler sold its European division to Peugeot. At this point, Hunter production was shelved and the Avenger was rebadged as a Talbot until it was finally withdrawn from sale at the end of 1981.

Hillman's Ryton factory closed in January 2007 assembling various Peugeot models for the European market.

The French company still owns the rights to the Hillman name.

Car models[link]

• Hillman 40 hp 1907–11
• Hillman 25 hp 1909–13
• Hillman 12/15 1908–13
• Hillman 9 hp 1913–15
• Hillman 10 hp 1910
• Hillman 13/25 1914
• Hillman 11 1915–26
• Hillman 10 hp Super Sports 1920–22
• Hillman 14 1925–30
• Hillman 20 1928–31
• Hillman Vortic 1931–32
• Hillman Wizard 65/75 1931–33
• Hillman Minx 1932–66
• Hillman 20/70 1934–35
• Hillman Super Minx 1961–65
• Hillman 16/20 1934–36
• Hillman Hawk 1936–37
• Hillman 80 1936–38
• Hillman 14 1938–40
• Hillman Husky 1954–63
• Hillman Imp 1963–76
• Hillman Gazelle 1966–67 (Australia)
• Hillman Hunter 1966–79
• Hillman Arrow 1967–68 (Australia)
• Hillman Avenger 1970–81
• Hillman Hustler 1971–72 (Australia)

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Hillman vehicles

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External links[link]

• Hillman Wizard website

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James Hillman (April 12, 1926 – October 27, 2011) was an American psychologist. He studied at, and then guided studies for, the C.G. Jung Institute in Zurich, founded a movement toward archetypal psychology and retired into private practice, writing and traveling to lecture, until his death at his home in Connecticut on October 27, 2011.

Life and work[link]

Hillman was born in Atlantic City, New Jersey in 1926. He was the third child of four born to Madeleine and Julian Hillman. James was born in Breakers Hotel, one of the hotels his father owned.^[1] He identified himself as Jewish and European in ancestry. After high school, he studied at the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University for two years.^[1] He served in the US Navy Hospital Corps from 1944 to 1946, after which he attended the Sorbonne in Paris, studying English Literature, and Trinity College, Dublin, graduating with a degree in mental and moral science in 1950.^[1] In 1959, he received his PhD from the University of Zurich, as well as his analyst's diploma from the C.G. Jung Institute and was then appointed as Director of Studies at the institute, a position he held until 1969.^[1]

In 1970, Hillman became editor of Spring Publications, a publishing company devoted to advancing Archetypal Psychology as well as publishing books on mythology, philosophy and art. His magnum opus, Re-visioning Psychology, was written in 1975 and nominated for the Pulitzer Prize. Hillman then helped co-found the Dallas Institute for Humanities and Culture in 1978.^[1] His 1997 book, The Soul's Code: In Search of Character and Calling, was on The New York Times Best Seller List that year. His works and ideas about philosophy and psychology have also been popularized by other authors such as Thomas Moore. His published works, essays, manuscripts, research notes, and correspondence (through 1999) reside at OPUS Archives and Research Center, located on the campuses of Pacifica Graduate Institute in Carpinteria, California.

Hillman was married three times, lastly to Margot McLean-Hillman, who survived him. He has four children from his first marriage: Julia, Carola, Susanne and Laurence. He died at his home in Thompson, Connecticut, in 2011, from bone cancer.^[1]

Archetypal psychology[link]

Archetypal psychology is a polytheistic psychology, in that it attempts to recognize the myriad fantasies and myths that shape and are shaped by our psychological lives. The ego is but one psychological fantasy within an assemblage of fantasies. To illustrate the multiple personifications of psyche Hillman made reference to gods, goddesses, demingods and other imaginal figures which he referred to as sounding boards "for echoing life today or as bass chords giving resonance to the little melodies of daily life"^[2] although he insisted that these figures should not be used as a 'master matrix' against which we should measure today and thereby decry modern loss of richness.^[3] Archetypal psychology is part of the Jungian psychology tradition and related to Jung's original Analytical psychology but is also a radical departure from it in some respects.

Whereas Jung’s psychology focused on the Self, its dynamics and its constellations (ego, anima, animus, shadow), Hillman’s Archetypal psychology relativizes and deliteralizes the ego and focuses on psyche, or soul, and the archai, the deepest patterns of psychic functioning, "the fundamental fantasies that animate all life" (Moore, in Hillman, 1991).^{[citation needed]}

In Re-Visioning Psychology (1975) Hillman sketches a brief lineage of archetypal psychology:

By calling upon Jung to begin with, I am partly acknowledging the fundamental debt that archetypal psychology owes him. He is the immediate ancestor in a long line that stretches back through Freud, Dilthey, Coleridge, Schelling, Vico, Ficino, Plotinus, and Plato to Heraclitus - and with even more branches yet to be traced” (p. xvii).

The development of archetypal psychology is influenced by Carl Jung's analytical psychology and Classical Greek, Renaissance, and Romantic ideas and thought. Indeed, Hillman’s influences are many, and include other artists, poets, philosophers, alchemists, and psychologists. One could easily include in this list Nietzsche, Heidegger, Henry Corbin, Keats, Shelley, Petrarch, and Paracelsus. Though all different in their theories and psychologies, they appear to be unified by their common concern for psyche.

Psyche or soul[link]

Hillman has been critical of the 20th century’s psychologies (e.g., biological psychology, behaviorism, cognitive psychology) that have adopted a natural scientific philosophy and praxis. Main criticisms include that they are reductive, materialistic, and literal; they are psychologies without psyche, without soul. Accordingly, Hillman’s work has been an attempt to restore psyche to what he believes to be "its proper place" in psychology. Hillman sees the soul at work in imagination, fantasy, myth and metaphor. He also sees soul revealed in psychopathology, in the symptoms of psychological disorders. Psyche-pathos-logos is the “speech of the suffering soul” or the soul’s suffering of meaning. A great portion of Hillman’s thought attempts to attend to the speech of the soul as it is revealed via images and fantasies.

Archetypal Psychology: A brief account (2006) was written in 1981 as a chapter in the Enciclopedia del Novecento in Italy and published by Hillman in 1983 as a basic introduction to his mythic psychology. It summarizes the major themes set out in his earlier, more comprehensive work, Re-Visioning Psychology (1975). The poetic basis of mind places psychological activities in the realm of images. It seeks to explore images rather than explain them. Within this is the idea that by re-working images, that is giving them attention and shaping and forming them until they are clear as possible then a therapeutic process which Hillman calls "soul making" takes place. Hillman equates the psyche with the soul and seeks to set out a psychology based without shame in art and culture. The goal is draw soul into the world via the creative acts of the individual, not excluded it in the name of social order. The potential for soulmaking is revealed in by psychic images to which a person is drawn and apprehends in a meaningful way. Indeed the act of being drawn to and looking deeper at the images presented creates meaning – that is, soul. Further to Hillman's project is a sense of the dream as the basic model of the psyche. This is set out more fully in "The Dream and the Underworld" (1979). In this text Hillman suggests that dreams show us as we are; diverse, taking very different roles, experiencing fragments of meaning that are always on the tip of consciousness. They also place us inside images, rather than images inside us. This move turns traditional epistemology on its head. The source of knowing is not Descartes' "I" but rather there is a world full of images that this I inhabits. Hillman further suggests a new understanding of psychopathology. He stresses the importance of psychopathology to the human experience and replaces it out of a medical understanding into a poetic one. In this idea sickness is a vital part of the way the soul of a person, that illusive and subjective phenomenon becomes known.

Dream analysis[link]

Because archetypal psychology is concerned with fantasy, myth, and image, it is not surprising that dreams are considered to be significant in relation to soul and soul-making. Hillman does not believe that dreams are simply random residue or flotsam from waking life (as advanced by physiologists), but neither does he believe that dreams are compensatory for the struggles of waking life, or are invested with “secret” meanings of how one should live, as did Jung. Rather, “dreams tell us where we are, not what to do” (1979). Therefore, Hillman is against the traditional interpretive methods of dream analysis. Hillman’s approach is phenomenological rather than analytic (which breaks the dream down into its constituent parts) and interpretive/hermeneutic (which may make a dream image “something other” than what it appears to be in the dream). His famous dictum with regard to dream content and process is “Stick with the image.”

For example, Hillman (1983a) discusses a patient's dream about a huge black snake. The dream work would include "keeping the snake" and describing it rather than making it something other than a snake. Hillman notes that "the moment you've defined the snake, interpreted it, you've lost the snake, you've stopped it and the person leaves the hour with a concept about my repressed sexuality or my cold black passions ... and you've lost the snake. The task of analysis is to keep the snake there, the black snake...see, the black snake's no longer necessary the moment it's been interpreted, and you don't need your dreams any more because they've been interpreted" (p. 54). One would inquire more about the snake as it is presented in the dream by the psyche so to draw it forth from its lair in the unconscious. The snake is huge and black, but what else? Is it molting or shedding its skin? Is it sunning itself on a rock? Is it digesting its prey? This descriptive strategy keeps the image alive, in Hillman's opinion, and offers the possibility for understanding the psyche.

[edit] The Soul's Code

Hillman's 1997 book, The Soul's Code: In Search of Character and Calling, outlines what he calls the "acorn theory" of the soul. This theory states that all people already hold the potential for the unique possibilities inside themselves, much as an acorn holds the pattern for an oak tree. The books describes how a unique, individual energy of the soul is contained within each human being, displayed throughout their lifetime and shown in their calling and life's work when it is fully actualized.

Hillman argues against the "nature and nurture" explanations of individual growth, suggesting a third kind of energy, the individual soul which is responsible for much of individual character, aspiration and achievement. He also argues against other environmental and external factors as being the sole determinants of individual growth, including the parental fallacy, dominant in psychoanalysis, whereby our parents are seen as crucial in determining who we are by supplying us with genetic material, conditioning, and behavioral patterns. While acknowledging the importance of external factors in the blossoming of the seed, he argues against attributing all of human individuality, character and achievement to these factors. The book suggests reconnection with the third, superior factor, in discovering our individual nature and in determining who we are and our life's calling.

Hillman suggests a reappraisal for each individual of their own childhood and present life to try and find their particular calling, the seed of their own acorn. He has written that he is to help precipitate a re-souling of the world in the space between rationality and psychology. He complements the notion of growing up, with the notion of growing down, or 'rooting in the earth' and becoming grounded, in order for the individual to further grow. Hillman incorporates logic and rational thought, as well as reference to case histories of well known people in society, whose daimons are considered to be clearly displayed and actualized, in the discussion of the daimon. His arguments are also considered to be in line with the puer aeternus or eternal youth whose brief burning existence could be seen in the work of romantic poets like Keats and Byron and in recently deceased young rock stars like Jeff Buckley or Kurt Cobain. Hillman also rejects causality as a defining framework and suggests in its place a shifting form of fate whereby events are not inevitable but bound to be expressed in some way dependent on the character of the soul of the individual.

Bibliography[link]

• A Blue Fire - Selected Writings By James Hillman, Harper-perennial; Later Printing edition (2010)
• City and Soul, Uniform Edition, Vol. 2 (Spring Publications, 2006)
• Senex and Puer, Uniform Edition, Vol. 3 (Spring Publications, 2006)
• Archetypal Psychology, Uniform Edition, Vol. 1 (Spring Publications, 2004. Original 1983.)
• A Terrible Love of War (2004)
• The Force of Character (Random House, New York, 1999)
• The Soul's Code: On Character and Calling (1997)
• Dream Animals, (with Margot McLean). (Chronicle Books, 1997)
• Kinds of Power: A Guide to its Intelligent Uses (1995)
• Healing Fiction (Spring Publications, 1994. Original 1983.)
• We've Had a Hundred Years of Psychotherapy - And the World's Getting Worse (with Michael Ventura) (1993)
• The Thought of the Heart and the Soul of the World (1992)
• A Blue Fire: Selected Writings of James Hillman introduced and edited by Thomas Moore (1989)
• Anima: An Anatomy of a Personified Notion (1985)
• Inter Views (with Laura Pozzo) (1983a)
• The Myth of Analysis: Three Essays in Archetypal Psychology (1983b)
• The Dream and the Underworld (1979)
• Re-Visioning Psychology (1975)
• Loose Ends: Primary Papers in Archetypal Psychology (1975a)
• Pan and the Nightmare (1972)
• Suicide and the Soul (1964)

See also[link]

• Wolfgang Giegerich

References[link]

External links[link]

• OPUS Archives and Research Center Website
• From History To Geography; Conversation with James Hillman for Literal Magazine
• The Uniform Edition of the writings of James Hillman
• WorldGuide interview
• New York Times' article: How the Soul is Sold

Richard Charles Hillman was a fictional character in the British television soap opera Coronation Street, played by Brian Capron. Hillman is now rated as one of the best soap villains of all time.^[1] Coincidentally, Richard's death was also the 100th death on Coronation Street.

Development[link]

Richard Hillman is renowned as one of the greatest soap villains of all time. Throughout his time on the soap, he turned from a conniving fraudster into a fully-fledged serial killer, becoming known as 'Killman' Hillman by the press. He murdered one Street resident as well as his first wife and attempted to kill several others, including his own wife, two stepchildren, and step-granddaughter, as well as being partly responsible for the death of Duggie Ferguson. Throughout these storylines ITV used elaborate trailers using the phrase 'Killer Corrie' which later was used to describe other storylines.

Storylines[link]

Backstory[link]

Before arriving in Coronation Street, Richard Hillman, a financial advisor, has been married twice before. He and his first wife, Marian, tried for many years to have a child without success. When Richard's mother falls ill, Marian decides that she doesn't want to look after an old age pensioner when she wants a baby, so she leaves Richard and the two divorce.

Sometime later, Richard's mother has died and Richard married his second wife, Patricia (Annabelle Apsion). Like Marian, Patricia wants children, and she and Richard are shocked to discover that he is sterile. Knowing that Richard and Marian had tried unsuccessfully to have a child, Patricia believes that Richard has deceived her about his fertility, though Richard later tells his third wife Gail Platt (Helen Worth) that he had always believed that Marian was at fault and was stunned to discover that he was in fact, responsible. Whatever the reason, Patricia and Richard divorce.

2001–03[link]

Richard makes his first appearance when he attends Alma Baldwin (Amanda Barrie)'s funeral in the summer of 2001, claiming to be her cousin.

He quickly befriends Gail Platt, eventually forming a romantic relationship with her. Richard moves in with her, winning over her children Sarah-Louise (Tina O'Brien) and David (Jack P. Shepherd) by buying them expensive gifts.

Richard's dealings are questioned after Norris Cole (Malcolm Hebden) learns that Richard was responsible for several elderly people losing their savings.

Richard sets up a business called Kellett Towers, which specialises in buy-back mortgages - he would buy the house but the occupant would be free to live there until their death. Richard also goes into business with Duggie Ferguson (John Bowe), building an estate of new homes. Hillman confronts Duggie at the flats during a disagreement about Duggie's shoddy workmanship. During the argument, Duggie falls several floors when a banister gives way (ironically, due to his own shoddy workmanship). Duggie is critically injured and Richard leaves him to die, opportunistically allowing the incident to remove his unwanted business partner. He panics at first, whipping out his mobile and dialing emergency services. However, he only dials '99' before stopping, then he goes to Duggie's flat to steal the cash Duggie stored there.

In May 2002, Richard's ex-wife, Patricia, inconveniently turns up as Richard finalises his and Gail's wedding plans. As she was moving to Australia, Patricia wants to cash in her directorship of Kellett Holdings, Richard's property company. Patricia owns 20% of Kellett Holdings, which Richard finally persuades her is worth £25,000.

He agrees to hand over the cheque at his Oakhill flats development, where they fight as Richard stalls on the money due to the cost of underpinning work. In the ensuing struggle, Patricia falls into the underpinning trench and Richard hit her in the face with a spade, killing her immediately. The next day, her body is covered in tons of cement for the underpinnings. Gail and Richard are married on 26 July 2002.

Over the following months with his business going downhill, Richard learns that Gail's mother, Audrey Roberts (Sue Nicholls) is worth £250,000. Over the next few months, he manages to convince Audrey and her family that she is going senile and tries to kill her by setting a house fire. She survives after being pulled out of the blaze by Steve McDonald (Simon Gregson), who had been passing by and realised that Hillman was trying to kill her. She tries to warn Gail but she is convinced that she is indeed senile and refuses to believe her, cutting all ties with Audrey. Audrey enlistes her friend Archie Shuttleworth (Roy Hudd) and tries to expose Richard to the police, but they are unsuccessful, as the police say there is no evidence to suggest he was responsible. The pair do however receive help from Norris.

Richard becomes desperate for money and decides to kill again. His next target is Emily Bishop (Eileen Derbyshire), whose house he had bought. Upon Emily's death, he would be free to sell her house. During a 50th birthday party at the Rover's Return pub for Doreen Heavey (Maxine's mother), Richard leaves the pub, disguised himself as Aidan Critchley, and enters Maxine Peacock's (Tracy Shaw) house where Emily is babysitting. Richard attacks Emily with a crowbar, but Maxine returns at that point and confronts him. Richard then beats Maxine to death. He stages a robbery and frames Aiden, who is charged with murder and attempted murder and is remanded in custody. Emily is badly hurt, but survives the attack.

Richard receives a phone call that a woman who had sold her home to Richard in a buy-back scheme had died a week prior. He is wracked with guilt, realising that the attempt on Emily's life and Maxine's murder had been pointless, as he had already legally gained possession of the dead woman's home, and would now be able to sell it. Also, the apartments he owns are beginning to sell because the proposed construction of a bail hostel nearby had fallen through.

After drug tests show that Aiden had been drugged with the tranquilizers prescribed for Audrey, Aiden convinces Sarah-Louise Platt that he didn't commit the murder. Gail also learns that Richard had lied about several matters connected to his ex-wife's disappearance. She recalls seeing Richard at the cabinet where the tranquilizers were kept the night of Maxine's murder. She also learns that Richard had lied about his former wife's bracelet, when Steve McDonald reveals that he had found it on the building site. Gail confronts Richard, who confesses to the murders. Horrified, Gail describes her husband as "Norman Bates with a briefcase". Gail also guesses that Richard is sterile and accuses him of not being in love with her, but rather the "ready-made family" that she, David, Sarah and Sarah's daughter, Bethany, provided. Gail then tells the police about Patricia's body under the concrete and they dig her body out of the cement.

Hillman runs away and becomes the most wanted man in Britain, only to return two weeks later intent on killing his entire family and himself. He is in the house when David returns home, and keeps him silent when David's friend, Craig, calls through the window. When Sarah returns later with then-boyfriend Todd, she leaves her daughter Bethany on the sofa. While she is seeing Todd out, Hillman picks up Bethany and tells Sarah that they will both be alright if she does exactly what he says. Gail returns home in the evening, and has her hands tied by Richard. Gail, however, manages to smuggle a pair of nail scissors into her hands on the way out of the house. The children are safe, but are bound and gagged in the family's car. While Gail tells them that she loves them, she puts the scissors in Sarah's hands. Originally, Richard intended to gas the family in the garage, until Audrey calls in and disturbs his plans. With the help of Kevin Webster, Tommy Harris, and Gail's ex-husband Martin Platt they break down the garage door.

However, Hillman drives off, with "You and Me Song" by The Wannadies playing on the CD player in a continuous loop, which he said was a favourite of Sarah-Lou's from a previous summer holiday. Martin, Kevin and Tommy give chase in another car. Sarah cuts David's bonds, slowly but surely, then cuts her own. Sarah then reaches forward and tries to free Gail. Richard tries to pull them back, causing him to swerve all over the road. Hillman eventually drives them into the canal, screaming "This is it! I LOVE YOU!". The various family members managed to free themselves from the vehicle and were rescued by Tommy Harris and Martin Platt.

Richard escapes from the car, but drowns moments later. Gail then identifies his body at the canal side.

Aftermath[link]

On 28 January 2006, as Sarah celebrates her 19th birthday, she receives a birthday card signed "I still think of you as my daughter... Love Richard". The Platts put this down to a sick joke, but three weeks later Gail receives a Valentine card from Richard. Gail receives a third card on 14 March 2006, the third anniversary of Richard's death. On Mother's Day, Audrey receives a card. On her birthday, she receives a card from him stating that he would "see her soon". In April, Les Battersby announces that he gave a ride to Richard Hillman in his cab, though this was seen as Les getting in on the gossip.

Sarah tries to convince Gail that David is sending the cards. David denies it, however, and starts truanting from school, which causes Gail quite a lot of stress. Gail decides to test David by saying that it is Richard's birthday coming up in June 2006. On Richard's "birthday", she receives a card addressed to Richard. That confirms that David was the one sending the cards, as he didn't realise that Richard's birthday was actually in December.

Richard Hillman is still controlling the way the Platts behave, long after his death. David has been permanently traumatized by the situation, and proves it by acting in vicious or disturbing ways. In October 2007, David drove his car into the canal in exactly the same place as Richard, to the same music. It seems that all these years later, the ordeal is still clear in his head, and still shows no signs of leaving.

In March 2008, David pushes Gail down the stairs. ITV said that the episode was made for 14 March as it was five years since Richard died.

Throughout his succeeding storylines, Richard's former stepson David often hints at still being haunted by the memory of his stepfather.

Reception[link]

The character of Richard Hillman proved to be monumentally successful with viewers and critics. On 13 January 2003, an estimated 15.3 million viewers watched the first instalment of Coronation Street with 15.6 million tuning in to watch Richard murder long-standing character Maxine Peacock in the second episode. The two episodes caused a power surge; a National Grid spokesman said: "Obviously, there was a huge audience which meant at the end of the programme people were getting up, turning lights on, going to the toilet, opening fridge doors and boiling kettles. It's that concentrated period when a programme finishes and millions of people around the country go and do something else other than watching Coronation Street."^[2]

The double-bill broadcast on 22 February 2003, in which Richard revealed all to Gail attracted an average of 17.2 million viewers for the first instalment, with the second episode averaging 17.6 million. The second episodes peaked at 19.4 million. A spokesperson for Granada Television stated; "The figures are truly staggering. The phones haven't stopped here with fantastic feedback. The whole nation has woken up and is talking about it." ^[3]

On 14 March 2003, 19.4 million viewers (62% audience share) tuned in to see Richard drive the Platt family into the canal. The ratings success of the serial killer storyline made Coronation Street the most-watched UK television programme of 2003 beating rival EastEnders into second place.^[4]

At the 2003 British Soap Awards actor Brian Capron swept the board for his portrayal of Richard winning gongs for 'Best Actor', 'Best Exit' and 'Villain of the Year'. His confessions episode was voted 'Most Spectacular Scene' and his murders was voted 'Best Storyline'.^[5]

See also[link]

• List of soap opera villains

References[link]

External links[link]

• Corrie.net profile of Hillman

This biographical article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (November 2008)

Chris Hillman
Chris Hillman performing in 2004
Background information
Birth name	Christopher Hillman
Born	(1944-12-04) December 4, 1944 (age 67) Los Angeles, California
Genres	Folk, bluegrass, folk rock, rock, country rock, country
Occupations	Singer-songwriter, musician
Instruments	Bass guitar, mandolin, guitar, vocals
Years active	1960-present
Labels	Columbia, Sugar Hill, Asylum, A&M, Rounder
Associated acts	Scottsville Squirrel Barkers, The Hillmen, The Byrds, The Flying Burrito Brothers, Manassas, Souther Hillman Furay Band, McGuinn, Clark and Hillman, Desert Rose Band, Herb Pedersen, Tony Rice, Larry Rice, Chris Hillman & Herb Pedersen
Website	www.chrishillman.com

Christopher "Chris" Hillman (born December 4, 1944 in Los Angeles, California) was one of the original members of The Byrds, which in 1965 included Roger McGuinn, Gene Clark, David Crosby and Michael Clarke. With frequent collaborator Gram Parsons Hillman was a key figure in the development of country rock, defining the genre through his work with The Byrds, The Flying Burrito Brothers and the country-rock group Desert Rose Band.

Early years[link]

Hillman, the third of four children,^[1] spent his early years at his family's ranch home in rural northern San Diego County, approximately 110 miles (180 km) from Los Angeles. He has credited his older sister with exciting his interest in country and folk music when she returned from college during the late 1950s with folk music records by The New Lost City Ramblers and others. Hillman soon began watching many of the country-music shows on local television in southern California at the time such as Town Hall Party, The Spade Cooley Show and Cal's Corral. Hillman's mother encouraged his musical interests and bought him his first guitar; shortly thereafter he developed an interest in bluegrass, particularly the mandolin. At age 15 Hillman went to Los Angeles to see the Kentucky Colonels bluegrass band at the Ash Grove, and later convinced his family to allow him to travel by train to Berkeley for lessons from mandolinist Scott Hambly. Around this time, Hillman's father died.

He became known in San Diego's folk music community as a solid player; this won him an invitation to join his first band, the Scottsville Squirrel Barkers. The band lasted barely two years, only recording one album (Blue Grass Favorites, which was distributed in supermarkets); however, it has a posthumous reputation as the spawning ground for a number of musicians who went on to play in the Eagles, the Flying Burrito Brothers, the Byrds, Hearts & Flowers, and the Country Gazette. When the band broke up in late 1963 Hillman received an invitation to join the Golden State Boys, regarded as the top bluegrass band in southern California and featuring future country star Vern Gosdin, his brother Rex and banjoist Don Parmley (later of the Bluegrass Cardinals). Shortly thereafter the band changed its name to The Hillmen; soon Hillman was appearing regularly on television and using a fictitious ID, "Chris Hardin", to allow the underage musician into the country bars where many of his gigs were played. When the Hillmen folded, he briefly joined a spinoff of Randy Sparks' New Christy Minstrels known as the Green Grass Revival.

The Byrds[link]

At this point a frustrated Hillman considered quitting music and enrolling at UCLA when he received an offer from The Hillmen's former manager and producer, Jim Dickson, to join Jim (later Roger) McGuinn, David Crosby, Gene Clark and Michael Clarke in a new band, The Byrds. Hillman was recruited to play bass guitar, although he had never picked up the instrument before. Thanks to his bluegrass background, he quickly developed his own melodic style on the instrument. The Byrds' first single, a jangly cover of Bob Dylan's "Mr. Tambourine Man", was an international hit and marked the birth of folk rock. During the mid-1960s the Byrds ranked as one of the most successful and influential American pop groups; they recorded a string of hits, including "Turn! Turn! Turn!", "Eight Miles High" and "So You Want to Be a Rock 'n' Roll Star".

Hillman kept a low profile on the band's first two albums, on which McGuinn and Clark shared lead vocals with Crosby adding high harmony. However, Clark's departure in 1966 and Crosby's growing restlessness allowed Hillman the opportunity to develop as a singer and songwriter in the group. He came into his own on the Byrds' 1967 album Younger Than Yesterday, co-writing and sharing lead vocals with McGuinn on the hit "So You Want to Be a Rock 'n' Roll Star". Hillman also wrote (and sang) the minor hit "Have You Seen Her Face", "Thoughts and Words", "Time Between" and "The Girl with No Name", the latter two demonstrating his bluegrass and country roots. Hillman's prominence continued with the Byrds' next album, The Notorious Byrd Brothers, on which he shared songwriting credit on seven of the album's eleven songs.

Pioneering country rock[link]

Internal strife dogged the Byrds, and by the beginning of 1968 the band was down to two original members (Hillman and McGuinn), with Hillman's cousin Kevin Kelley on drums. They then hired Gram Parsons to replace Crosby. Hillman and Parsons changed the Byrds' musical direction, helping to usher in a new genre known as country rock when they recorded the album Sweetheart of the Rodeo. Once again Hillman seemed to recede into the background, leaving most of the vocals to Parsons and McGuinn and concentrating on bass and mandolin. Parsons left the band shortly thereafter; Hillman brought in former Kentucky Colonels guitarist Clarence White as a replacement, but this lineup was short-lived when Hillman himself left a few weeks later.

The Flying Burrito Brothers[link]

Hillman teamed with Parsons again (this time as vocalist, guitarist and songwriter) to form the Flying Burrito Brothers. Further honing their pioneering country-rock hybrid sound by combining the energy, instrumentation and attitude of rock and roll with the issues and themes of country music, the Burritos recorded the landmark The Gilded Palace of Sin followed by 1970's Burrito Deluxe. Parsons was out of the lineup by June 1970 (replaced by future Eagles guitarist Bernie Leadon) when the band toured Canada as part of the Festival Express tour, with Hillman reverting to bass guitar. Hillman stayed with the band for two less-successful records, bringing in the Byrds' Michael Clarke and future Firefall singer Rick Roberts for another short-lived lineup.

1970s[link]

Before the Flying Burrito Brothers disbanded, Hillman joined Stephen Stills' band Manassas; he remained with Manasses until 1973, when he briefly rejoined the original lineup of the Byrds for a reunion album on Asylum Records. In 1974, Hillman teamed with singer-songwriter Richie Furay (who co-founded Buffalo Springfield and Poco) and songwriter J. D. Souther (who co-wrote much of the Eagles' early repertoire) in the Souther-Hillman-Furay Band. The trio never quite gelled, and broke up in 1975 after two albums and internal squabbles.

Hillman released two solo albums, Slippin' Away and Clear Sailin', which included several songs co-written with Crawdaddy magazine editor Peter Knobler. One of their songs, "Step on Out," was recorded by The Oak Ridge Boys on their 1985 album and became the title cut. He was also an in-demand studio musician, playing and singing on sessions for Gene Clark, Dillard & Clark, Poco, Dan Fogelberg and others. After an early 1977 British tour reunited him with Roger McGuinn and Gene Clark, the trio stayed together for two McGuinn-Clark-Hillman albums (on which Hillman continued his songwriting collaboration with Knobler) and one under the McGuinn-Hillman name, with a hit single in 1979's "Don't You Write Her Off".

Desert Rose Band[link]

By the early 1980s Hillman had returned to his bluegrass and country roots, recording two acclaimed (mainly acoustic) albums for Sugar Hill Records with singer/guitarist/banjo player Herb Pedersen (a former member of The Dillards). Soon after, Hillman and Pedersen formed the Desert Rose Band; this proved to be Hillman's most commercially-successful post-Byrds project. Their first LP, an eponymously titled 1987 outing, generated two Top Ten country hits in "Love Reunited" (written with Steve Hill), "One Step Forward" and the number-one single "He's Back and I'm Blue." From 1987 until late 1993 the band recorded seven albums and had a string of 16 country-music hits (the majority of which were in the country Top Ten) and a number of Academy of Country Music awards before disbanding in 1994. As Hillman said, "We definitely quit while we were ahead."

The Desert Rose Band reunited when John Jorgenson performed with Hillman, Herb Pederson, Jay Dee Maness and Bill Bryson on May 2, 2008 at the Station Inn in Nashville. This lineup is the best known, and includes all of the original members present on the hit albums from the 1980s. At this show, Hillman said it was the first time they had played together in 19 years. They went through a string of DRB hits but were unable to play "He's Back and I'm Blue" because Hillman said he had forgotten the words. This sold-out show prompted Hillman and the band to play a handful of other reunion shows at clubs and music festivals throughout the U.S. Several of these were recorded for inclusion on a live album, which Hillman hopes to release in the U.S. and Europe. If released, this will be the Desert Rose Band's only live album.

1990s and beyond[link]

At the peak of the Desert Rose Band's success, Hillman began appearing infrequently with McGuinn. A duet recorded by the pair for the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band's Will The Circle Be Unbroken Vol. II album, "You Ain't Going Nowhere", reached the Country Top 10 in 1989. Soon the pair joined Crosby in a reformed Byrds, playing a handful of club dates. In 1990 they appeared at a tribute to Roy Orbison, performing "Mr. Tambourine Man" with the song's composer Bob Dylan. That same year the Byrds cut four new songs for inclusion in a career-spanning box set, and in 1991 they were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. In 1996 Hillman reunited with Desert Rose Band alumnus Herb Pederson for the CD Bakersfield Bound. Like a Hurricane (1998) and three bluegrass-flavored releases on Rounder Records with Pedersen, Larry Rice and Tony Rice followed. He appeared on the 1999 album Return of the Grievous Angel: A Tribute to Gram Parsons in a duet with Steve Earle on "High Fashion Queen" (which Hillman wrote with Parsons). After a brief hiatus Hillman and Pedersen returned with Way Out West (2002), a 17-track collection of country, roots rock and Americana; this was followed by The Other Side (2005). In 2005 he also performed "Crazy from the Heart" on the Bellamy Brothers' album, Angels and Outlaws, Vol. 1.

As of early 2010 Hillman has been "recovering from extensive spinal surgery, and hopes to be back touring soon", according to his wife Connie.

Discography[link]

• The Scottsville Squirrel Barkers Blue Grass Favorites Crown Records (1962)
• The Hillmen The Hillmen (1969) Together Records

Contains material recorded in 1963-64. Reissued in 1981 and 1995 on Sugar Hill

The Byrds[link]

• Mr. Tambourine Man (1965) Columbia
• Turn! Turn! Turn! (1965) Columbia
• Fifth Dimension (1966) Columbia
• Younger Than Yesterday (1967) Columbia
• The Notorious Byrd Brothers (1968) Columbia
• Sweetheart of the Rodeo (1968) Columbia
• Byrds (1973) Asylum

The Flying Burrito Brothers[link]

• The Gilded Palace of Sin (1969) A&M
• Burrito Deluxe (1970) A&M
• The Flying Burrito Brothers (1971) A&M
• Last of the Red Hot Burritos (1972) A&M
• Close Up the Honky Tonks (1974) A&M
• Honky Tonk Heaven (1974) Ariola
• Sleepless Nights (1976) A&M
• Farther Along (1988) A&M
• Dim Lights, Thick Smoke, and Loud, Loud Music (1987) Edsel
• Out of the Blue (1996) A&M

Manassas[link]

• Manassas (1972) Atlantic
• Down the Road (1973) Atlantic
• Pieces (2009) Rhino

The Souther-Hillman-Furay Band[link]

• The Souther Hillman Furay Band (1974) Asylum
• Trouble in Paradise (1975) Asylum

McGuinn, Clark & Hillman[link]

• McGuinn, Clark & Hillman (1979) Capitol
• City (1980) Capitol
• Return Flight I (1992) Edsel
• Return Flight II (1993) Edsel
• Three Byrds Land in London (1997) Windsong
• The Capitol Collection (2007) Capitol

McGuinn/Hillman[link]

• McGuinn / Hillman (1981) Capitol

Ever Call Ready[link]

• Ever Call Ready (1985) Maranatha! Music

The Desert Rose Band[link]

• The Desert Rose Band (1987) Curb/MCA
• Running (1988) Curb/MCA
• Pages of Life (1990) Curb/MCA
• A Dozen Roses – Greatest Hits (1991) Curb/MCA
• True Love (1991) Curb/MCA
• Traditional (1992) Curb/MCA
• Life Goes On (1993) Curb
• Live at Nevada County Fairgrounds with Emmylou Harris (8-03-1986) Bootleg C

Chris Hillman & Herb Pedersen[link]

• Bakersfield Bound (1996) Sugar Hill
• Way Out West (2003) Back Porch Records
• At Edwards Barn (2010) Rounder Records

Larry Rice, Tony Rice, Chris Hillman & Herb Pedersen[link]

• Out of the Woodwork (1997) Rounder
• Rice, Rice, Hillman & Pedersen (1999) Rounder Records
• Running Wild (2001) Rounder Records

Solo artist[link]

• Slippin' Away (1976) Asylum
• Clear Sailin' (1977) Asylum
• Morning Sky (1982) Sugar Hill
• Desert Rose (1984) Sugar Hill
• Like a Hurricane (1998) Sugar Hill
• The Other Side (2005) Sovereign Records

Singles[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official homepage
• 2003 Interview